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Topping Up

Internet Cafe. Somewhere near Beijing, 2005

Game credit top-up cards. Somewhere near Beijing, 2005

How you top up credit for an online game if you have no credit card? Scratch cards available from internet cafe about 60 km from Beijing (above) and a wider selection from an electronics market in Beijing, below.

Whilst topping up game credits by mobile phone is possible (it may even already be offered by the game companies - I've not researched the topic), it is a less compelling proposition where most people in the market are using pre-pay.

Game credit top-up card selection. Stall in one of Beijing's electronics markets, 2005

Writing from Tokyo | January 19, 2006 | Permalink


Comments

Hey Jan (we met very briefly at Ubicomp, dunno if you remember) -- this is a topic I'm quite interested in, and was curious if you could clarify this part:

Whilst topping up game credits by mobile phone is possible (it may even already be offered by the game companies - I've not researched the topic), it is a less compelling proposition where most people in the market are using pre-pay.

Do you mean that the people who would top up game credits are already using pre-pay for their keitai? Or that they are already using it for the games themselves? What makes it a less compelling proposition?

Sorry if I'm being dense. And many thanks for yr blog, which is equal parts poetry and prognosis.

Posted by: Kevin Slavin at February 6, 2006 11:10 AM